Took friday/weekend off to rest my weary bones and prepare for a hard week. My goal this week is to hit 10 classes, going to put the strength and conditioning on hold for a bit with this new schedule and increased competition.

Jiu Jitsu No Gi Advanced
With Bibiano again, warmup, technique was de la riva guard sweeps. The essential is to grip their nearest ankle with your foot. In de la riva your same side leg is behind their gripped leg, while the far leg is on their far hip. First sweep, as they stuff the leg and pass to side, you move your hip foot so the shin is under their trapped leg, triangle your legs and extend/drive them via that leg. Another sweep from the same position, is to take your hooked leg and sweep out their far foot, as you drive at the waist with your other leg, keeping the grip on their foot. In rolling I got quite a few decent ones. **** I'm exhausted...what the hell did I do in rolling today...first round was with Tim, the boxing coach, we had lots of back and forth with me mostly on top getting stumped by his half guard but not swept. He did get a heel hook, which is always a questionable tap as most people approach those situations with extreme caution. In another round I dominated a big boy that I rolled in the tournament, though I couldn't finish. Was on his back most of the round. Kajan showed me a mistake I made on an armbar I failed from back. I need to drop my body to the mat as I'm going off to the side, that way I can frame his weight off of me. Another round I got a round with a guy who will hopefully be my training partner more often now, Baker, a pro fighter at about my weight who just got back from brazil. Lots of back and forth again, with me on top quite a bit but unable to finish. He got an ankle lock from guard.

Jiu Jitsu Beginners
Mostly just relaxed and caught my breath. Helped out some of the newbies. Jumped in for rolling, got a really skilled but much smaller kid and we just flowed around trying different things lightly. Rolled a bigger guy who was pretty new, taught him some guard passes and made sure to practice a few of my transitions and took a triangle from mount. Rolled a really strong guy who was new to jiu jitsu but seemed to be a wrestler or something. Had fun with playing guard, threatening armbars and triangles. I caught an underhook on one arm and used it to pendulum sweep him. Something I'm glad to get working in No Gi because besides the hip bump, it's my bread and butter sweep. Then I rolled Baker again. He kept commenting that I like to headbutt. Hopefully he doesn't hate me now, I need this training partner. Luckily he tried playing guard again, if he started on top I'd probably be ****ed. I caterpillared my way past his guard, and found mount. Couldn't finish from mount, a classic dilemna of mine in training. I like it better when you can just punch them.

Boxing
Shadowboxing, drilled simple combos along with bouncing back and circling out of harms way for pretty much the whole class. Sparred a new guy, nice and light. Flowed a bit better today but still alot to go, and god knows how rusty my muay thai is going to be.

GOOD NEWS TODAY!
Saw Kajan, he said there's a fight for me January 15th in Vancouver. My opponent is 1-1 and just coming off a second round rear naked choke win over a teammate (one that I don't know). The fight is at 190lbs catchweight, which is right where I wanted. I'm sitting at about 205 right now, so we'll diet down to 198 or so and cut the rest. Hopefully everything works out for this fight, I'm VERY excited. Here we go again!

Warmup, techinque was attacking the turtle right into a bow and arrow choke. From hip control, feed the lapel to the other hand and grip under the neck. I was for some reason having problems getting the hang of which hand grips the collar, so what I ended up doing is just pinching both of the collars at this step and letting go of the one I don't need later. Once the collar is gripped, come to a low stand, stepping over their back and putting that one hook in, rolling yourself to the side and thus them with you. Throw your leg over their arm and extend to complete the Bow and Arrow. A detail Bibi added in later was to use your free hand to scoop their leg, giving you a much easier transition and convincing chokes.

Rolling. Phew. I don't know what the hell happened today, but I did not feel on my game. Rolled Raj, a quickly improving guy that I worked with a year or so again when he was starting. Now he's coming out to Langley with me. We had lots of back and forth. I was having some specific troubles passing his half guard and keeping him in my half guard. Today I was finding the reverse sit pass to be working for everyone against me but not working for me against others. Frustrating. I rolled him two round and expended alot of energy, but did manage to get a tap with an arm triangle. Also had a couple nice but unfortunately too loose armbar attempts, one that turned into a triangle, into a sweep into mounted triangle then transitioned for the armbar. I also went for a knee bar before the gym owner, a near black belt that I won't get into the details, but shouldn't be messed with, asked me if I thought I was a brown belt. "Nope, just practicing" Yikes, went back to it. Kajan told me to roll with the big brown belt instructor, I think he said his name is Omni or Amni, must have been 230lbs and everyone was watching me. Being exhausted and not exactly feeling it, I sat in his guard working to pass for quite some time with him attempting sweeps that I'd barely stuff. He finally got a sweep and was sitting on me when the round ended. Then I got a white belt that I haven't rolled before, but looked pretty harmless. He was on my ass. Oh man, I haven't been handled by a white belt like that in as long as I can remember. No submissions, but he was all over me, with most of my time spent in turtle or bottom half guard clinging on for life. When people get beat by a lower ranking opponent they'll often compliment you for your "strength" or "athletic ability" as a sort of backhanded compliment to redeem why they lost. This guy didn't seem stronger, faster, bigger, I just had nothing for him. Will be looking for him next class, though. Then class ended and I was happy to escaped with nothing hurting but my ego, but Rob asked me to do another round. To be honest, I thought he was looking to make a point with me because he saw me going for a kneebar on my friend. I figured I was going to get taught a lesson. However, it was pretty chill, I worked my passes calmly, we battled in half guard most of the round, then he managed to sneak out the back door and sweep me. I battled to defend for awhile, sitting up as he tried an armbar, we scrambled and he got ahold of an ankle and did some sort of heel hook on me, tapped pretty fast and that was that. I feel like I got hit by a train today and only trained an hour.

Talked to Kajan about the fight again, they're trying to bring it down to 185, because, as he said, they're "scared". I told him I could do 185 if I had to but it's going to be a challenge. He said he wanted it at 190 for me too, so we'll see what plays out.

This is a big fight for him, coming off a loss that interrupted something like a 6 fight win streak that had him on the brink of making it onto a bigger show. He's had a long layoff but has been working his ass off, including a productive trip to Vegas to train with UFC fighters in Extreme Couture. His opponent was a Brazilian guy, but has been swapped for Ryan Healy, who has made appearances on Strikeforce and WEC. So this is a very important fight, I just have to find out how I can watch this fight! It will be an oganization called MFC, this friday on HD NET for anyone richer than me with all the specialty channels. WATCH IT!

Checked my weight on the scale I'm sticking with now. Last a month or two ago it was 202lbs and 10.6% bodyfat, today I was 204 and 11.1% bodyfat. Time to get those numbers down!

Wednesday I was driving my girlfriend around helping her apply for jobs then got stuck in traffic coming home and missed class.

Thursday I was geared up to go, but when I got to the gym it was closed for remembrance day.

Friday I met the guy running the promotion I'm fighting in at my gym. We talked a bit and they took some pictures for promotional material. I need to choose another entrance song!

After that training partner held pads for 5 rounds, things coming together nicely but still not protecting myself enough. Then I worked some technique and then sparred with Baker who threw me around a bit, but I ended taking his back and mount quite a bit and finished the round on top. Bibiano was there again and I talked to him for awhile, he definitely knows who I am a bit now. He comlimented my jiu jitsu and strength and said that if I work on my muay thai I could be a very good fighter. Always nice to hear, of course nothing out of Bibiano's mouth is negative.

Today I'll nap then hit the gym for more pads and maybe do something else, gotta catch up for those two missed day.s

Kajan fought tonight in Edmonton. As I mentioned earlier, this was a very important fight for him. He not only beat the favoured opponent, but he did so in a very dominant fashion. Highly reccomend watching this fight, between a few beautiful demonstrations of technique, heart stopping moments and funny commentary, it's the best fight I've seen in awhile. Never yelled so hard at my computer screen: Kajan

Hit the bag for 3 rounds. First round just boxing focusing on my major problems - range and keeping my hands up. Second round started working push kicks then push kicks to round kicks and ended with a 30 second punch out. Third round clinch and knees, then 30 second punch out.

Warmup, no technique just side control escape rotating through the whole class. Did alright but not great, the water was pretty deep at class today. In rolling I got manhandled by Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill, who isn't known for his ground game in MMA but took his toll on me with like 4 submissions in a round. Also rolled a purple belt with alot of back and forth though I did tap to a guillotine. Final guy was decent but I got the better of him and spent most of the time mounted on him, finishing with an americana and arm from s-mount with a sweep after he defended. 7 minute rounds are tough. Good class.

Afterwards training partner came in to hit pads, my hands were damn heavy after that class but I managed. First round I was looking much better as far as protecting myself, second round after the 100 punchout drill he started with, I wasn't looking so good. Third round was begrudgringly forced through. I'll keep it up though, my shoulders can't stay weak forever.

Waaay too sore for a monday..leg soreness from burpees, thigh pain from the purple belt digging hard with elbows to break my guard, shoulder, wrist, and elbow soreness from the increase in striking lately.

My weight cut's going suprisingly well, I guess I'll make monday after training the weekly weight check day. Last week I was 204 and 11.1% bodyfat, this week I'm 198lbs and 10.7% bodyfat. I'll adjusting my diet to slow the weightloss, but I'm pretty confident that this was just a low point of a fluctuation and I didn't legitimately lose 6lbs this week.

I'm in the middle of 8 shifts straight at work right now but am pretty happy with how I'm getting through it.

Good that you will have the fight again. You are keeping good workout ethic.

Kajan put up awesome performance. Props to him.

I have my first mma amateur fight on 5th December. I hope that I will come close to your results

__________________
"Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior who can master both....and surpass the result." - Tien T'ai

My god this week is moving slowly. My right elbow is ruined with tendonitis, it feels like it should be in a sling.

I wanted to do 3 classes today but only managed to do one. I'm also jacked up on caffeine which makes sleeping tonight iffy.

BJJ was pretty good, after the warm up and guard pass drills we just did back escapes, and the teacher asked me to show a back escape. Then we drilled with everyone rotating around attacking eachother's back. I did well here and didn't get tapped. Then we rolled. I positionally dominated a big white belt one round. Then had a very neutral roll with the blue belt that hyperextended my knee in a takedown at one of my first blue belt tournaments, he's good and I'll have to get more rolls with him. Also rolled my white belt nemesis...I had slightly better positions but still spent most of my time in bottom half guard clinging for life, ended the round in his guard but only defending his submissions. My nemesis gets the moral victory again.

I've had a bit of an enlightenment today after training, one that I've had before. I'm wasting energy using my strength to cling to positions and fight their strength. It's a waste, and a habit that I spent alot of time in Brazil improving on. I'm technically better than most people here, I just need to RELAX, and be constantly moving and threatening. The challenge is that the less technically inclined do the grabbing and clinging, which can sort of suck you into their level if you're not aware of it. Next time I will be, next roll it's going to be smoother, lighter, and much more active.

That said, I need to give my elbow some rest. I'm going to harass my training partner to work kicks only with me tomorrow, god knows I'll need some tuning up on those before I fight.